A Blog about all things Star Trek, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Outlander and a lot more sci-fi

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Doctor Who Series 5 DVD and BluRay News

Geoff Boucher from The LA Times has the scoop on the upcoming DVD and BluRay release of series 5 of Doctor Who in North America. The expected release date is November 9, 2010.

Here is what Boucher reports:

I just got word that the BBC is poised to announce that "Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series" will hit Blu-ray and DVD on November 9 and that it will contain a truly tantalizing extra: two newly filmed sequences, both written by Steven Moffat and available only in this collection.

They are called "Meanwhile, in the TARDIS ... " and, as that title suggests, they are drop-in moments that show what happens between the episodes -- I suspect they're the comedy mortar between the story bricks, and with Moffat's wry sensibility and the daft charms of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, I'm guessing these interstitial escapades have a chance to be pretty entertaining.

Down at Comic-Con International on Thursday, there are two panels and a screening that should interest the Whovians, the big one being the 8 p.m. screening of the season's two-part finale. It's the U.S. premiere of the season's big finish, which met with strong reviews back in the U.K. when aired June 26.

Smith's first year in the TARDIS was a romp; the upgrades to the show in production values, the shake-up in the creative team and the deft casting of Smith and Gillan took the series onward and upward in a way I didn't think possible after David Tennant's departure from the lead role. If you missed it, the home-video release might be a, uh, timely way to jump on board with a show that looks to have bigger and better things ahead.

13 episodes of Doctor Who in glorious BluRay already has me in happy tears. I have the Doctor Who specials in BluRay and believe me, it's completely worth it. There's nothing like seeing David Tennant's lovely freckles on an HD screen.

But there I digress again.

The most interesting news, as of now, is the two new filmed sequences that we'll get to see on the DVD and BluRay sets. But nothing else has been announced.

Perhaps the BBC will announce the specs at Comic-Con? Stay tuned for more news.